Meralco to roll out prepaid electricity service in 8 NCR cities

The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) plans to roll out prepaid electricity service to eight more cities in Metro Manila, according to a report on "Balitanghali" by Micaela Papa on Wednesday.

Tony Valdez, Meralco head of marketing, customer solution and product development, the power distributor aims to bring to the cities of Makati, Quezon City, Caloocan, San Juan, Marikina, Pateros, Taguig, and Pasay its Kuryente Load (K-Load) service before the year ends.

In a separate text message to GMA News Online, Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga noted that prepaid electricity will be available in Makati City by next month.

By October, it will be available in San Juan, Marikina, Caloocan, Quezon City, Pateros, Pasay, and Taguig, pending the approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission, Zaldarriaga added.

Potential customers from the eight cities will add to Meralco's more than 40,000 prepaid customers in Manila, Pasig, and some parts of Rizal province, Valdez noted.

Among the advantages of K-Load is easier monitoring of consumption. A text message will be sent to a customer indicating the latest available balance so they can decide how to manage power consumption.

The K-Load system also allows Meralco to know and respond to problems in its distribution lines because of "smart meters." Equipped with SIM cards, the smart meters can directly communicate with the power distributor.

In 10 years, Meralco also aims to change all 6 million traditional meters in its franchise areas to smart meters, said Valdez. — VS, GMA News